“That wouldn’t happen to me.“
“I’m sure every woman who gets pregnant feels that way. But do you know who’s filling up the ranks at the poverty line in this country? Single women and their children, that’s who. The men who promised to take care of them are long gone.“
Diana took a deep breath and realized Brandon was looking at her with something close to admiration. Robyn was obviously furious.
But it was Colby’s expression that surprised Diana. He was scowling darkly.
Diana came awake with a shiver of dread. The dream hadn’t been truly a nightmare, but it had been emotionally wrenching, nonetheless. She realized with a start that she was crying.
Specter woofed questioningly. He got to his feet and pushed his muzzle into her hand. Instinctively Diana stroked him, drawing some comfort from the process.
“I’m okay,“ she told the dog. “It was just a dream.“
A dream of a terrible darkness. A horrifying alone-ness. Uncounted eons of aloneness. And the feeling of a knife in her hand. Blood welling up under her fingers, trickling out of the cave to mingle with the water and the mist. A man’s voice was speaking to her, his dying curse filling the grotto even as he rolled free of her body.
You have fought me to the death. I would not have believed a woman could be so stubborn, nor so valiant. If you
had been born male, you would have been a mighty warrior.
But you have not won, woman. I die here now, but so will you. And by all the gods, I tell you this, you wretched
female: I curse you. With my dying blood I curse you now. Listen well to your fate, for you cannot escape. Your spirit
will remain chained here until you give me the child I seek. You will learn at last what it is to be a woman. The final
victory will be mine. Yours, the ultimate surrender.
“I should never have let Colby tell me about the legend of Chained Lady Cave, Specter.“ Diana tossed back the covers and reached for her robe and slippers. “That man is too good at inducing nightmares.“
She padded down the hall, too uneasy to go immediately back to sleep. Specter followed, always willing to indulge in a midnight snack.
“That dream was all I needed on top of finding those dead weeds in my vase today,“ Diana confided as she rummaged around in the refrigerator. She hadn’t been this shaken by a dream in a long while. “What with dreams and weeds and worrying about being pregnant, I’ll be lucky to get back to sleep tonight.“
The cottage seemed chilled and far too quiet to her disturbed senses. She was very glad Specter was there in the kitchen with her. Diana was used to being alone but there were times when it would be nice to have a man around.
It
was
the dream again. More intense than ever. Probably because he’d spent the other night in Chained Lady Cave.
Was he going to have this dream off and on for the rest of his life?
He stood at the downstairs window listening to the stillness of the house, and his mind drifted back to all the long nights he had spent here as a child. They were usually nights spent imagining the worst things that could happen to him.
Outside in the darkness, deep shadows pooled among the trees. Colby watched them for a while. Why had he come back here to this town? Why couldn’t he shake the feeling that there was something here in Fulbrook Corners that remained unfinished? Maybe he was just realizing the simple psychological fact that the past was always part of the future.
Colby sighed. It was more than that. He had been drawn back here by a vague feeling of incompleteness. There was something here that needed to be done before he could really be free of Fulbrook Corners.
He swore under his breath. He wanted to see Diana. He needed her tonight. The cave dream was getting to him.
Colby turned away from the window, scrawled a brief note on a piece of paper and dropped the paper on the kitchen table. He’d probably be home before dawn.
Then again, he might not.
He decided to walk to Diana’s. If he took the Jeep, he’d probably waken Brandon and Robyn.
Ten minutes later, he saw the light glowing from Diana’s kitchen window and wondered at it. He quickened his pace and was on the first porch step when Specter’s sharp bark sounded from within.
“It’s me, Diana,“ he called reassuringly as he pounded on the door. “Call off your damned dog.“
He heard her soothing Specter, and a moment later she unlocked the front door. He looked down at her, thinking she looked warm and familiar and altogether wonderful.
“What are you doing up at this time of night?“ he asked, stepping into the hall.
“I was about to ask you the same question. Good grief, Colby, it’s nearly two in the morning. What are you doing running around like this in the middle of the night?“
“Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d take a walk and I saw your light on.“ He shrugged out of the leather jacket he’d slung on before leaving the house. “No, that’s not quite accurate. The truth is, I thought I’d take a walk and see if by any chance you’d open your door to me at two in the morning.“ He dropped the jacket on the hall table, pulled her close and kissed her heavily.
She looked up at him when he lifted his head. Her eyes were wide, her gaze surprisingly vulnerable. “To tell you the truth,“ Diana said softly, “I’m glad you came by.“
He held her tightly for a long moment. “Rough day, huh? Those weeds really upset you, didn’t they?“
“Yes.“
“I
promise you I’ll find out who put them there, honey. And when I do, whoever did it will be eating small rocks off the pavement. Come on. Let’s go into the kitchen and pour ourselves a medicinal glass of brandy.“
“I just made some hot chocolate.“
“That sounds even better.“
They picked up their mugs and headed for the living room. Diana sat down beside him on the old couch, curling her legs under her. Specter lounged nearby, watchful as always, but apparently resigned to the fact that Colby had exerted his right to be here at this hour.
“Are horror writers subject to a lot of sleepless nights?“ Diana asked as she sipped her hot chocolate.
Colby smiled faintly. “No, not really. At least I’m not. Not any more, at any rate. I used to lie awake a lot at night when I was a kid.“
“Dreaming up stories?“
“Fighting monsters that hid in the closet. I’d imagine the most horrendous monster I could, and then I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep until I’d also imagined how to destroy it.“
“Sounds like a way of dealing with the trauma of your childhood.“
She made the observation with such sweet, grave seriousness that Colby chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’re an amateur psychologist as well as a first-rate business executive.“
She gave him a fleeting little smile. “Well, whatever the reason for inventing monsters, it’s certainly stood you in good stead. When did you first start writing, Colby?“
“When Brandon started school, I went back, too, part-time. I enrolled in a local community college and, among other things, I wound up taking some writing classes. One of my teachers encouraged me to submit a couple of short stories, so I did. Nothing sold but I was hooked. I decided I wanted to write a book.“
“Did you start off with horror?“
He shook his head, remembering the long, lean years. “No, I did a lot of men’s action adventure stuff under a variety of names. Not much money in it, but eventually I worked it up to the point where I was earning almost as much writing as I was working in construction. That’s when I quit and started writing full-time. That’s also when I branched out into the horror market and started using my own name.“
“A long, hard road.“
His mouth curved reminiscently. “I was rather nervous the day I told my foreman I was quitting construction. I was sure that as soon as I gave up my real job, I’d stop selling books and then what would I do? After all, I had a responsibility to Brandon. But I took a chance, and I got lucky.“
“Sometimes we have to make that kind of decision.“
He sprawled back into the corner of the couch, pulling her with him. “Speaking of decisions, I get the impression Brandon is definitely pulling back from marriage. I owe you one for the advice you gave me, honey.“
“Forget it. I hope they both come to realize marriage probably isn’t the best thing for either of them at this age.
From Robyn’s point of view, especially, I think it would be a mistake.“
“I gathered that.“ He tightened his arm around her. “You sure are big on women being able to take care of themselves, aren’t you?“
“It’s important to me.“
“So important that you’ve never taken the risk of marriage or the risk of having kids.“
Diana tensed. “Hey, don’t you start in on me. Robyn’s already given me a lecture on the subject of being an overly ambitious, tough, aggressive businesswoman, remember?“
“So, why are you one?“ Colby asked abruptly.
For an instant he thought he’d gone too far. She was utterly rigid beside him. “If that’s the way you think of me, why are you here tonight?“
“Because I know that beneath all that ambition, toughness and aggression, you are one sexy lady who has a nifty way of driving me stark raving wild.“ He grinned unabashedly and kissed her soundly. “And any woman who looks as sweet and soft and tasty when she’s wearing a robe and slippers as you do has definitely got other talents besides her business skills. So tell me why you grew up thinking you could never rely on a man.“
She lay still, looking up at him in surprise. “You’re a little more perceptive than I would have guessed, Savage.“
“Don’t look so astonished.“ He was mildly annoyed. “I’m not totally insensitive, you know. It was obvious from the way you lectured Robyn tonight that something has made you afraid to trust men. Was it just that guy who left you for his ex? Or is it all the lousy male bosses you’ve had over the years?“
“It’s a lot of things, Colby. And it all boils down to a conviction that it’s safer to rely on yourself. You can hardly argue with me on that score. You’ve got the same opinions on the subject.“
“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, in my case, it’s probably because I’ve always felt that I was out there on my own. Aunt Jesse was hardly an anchor in a storm, and there’s never been anyone else I could count on. I got used to taking care of myself. What about you?“
“A similar story. Except that I was lucky enough to have my mother. Dad took off when I was less than a year old.
He never sent Mom a dime. Just disappeared. Poor Mom had gotten pregnant in high school and married without graduating. Her parents helped out but they didn’t have much to spare. My mother has worked hard all her life, but you can imagine the kind of minimum-wage jobs she’s had to take. There were Christmases when the only gift under the tree was the one she talked the Salvation Army into giving me.“
“And you swore you were never going to get into that situation. You never wanted to take the risk of being financially dependent on a man.“
“That’s the long and the short of it.“
“Did it occur to you that you may have carried your quest for independence to an extreme?“ Colby asked dryly.
“I’ve been reasonably content. I’m in a position now where I have everything I want and I can afford to make my mother’s life a lot easier.“
“You told Robyn tonight that you can’t always have it all.“
“That’s just being realistic. Life is often a series of trade-offs.“
“Tell me something,“ Colby ordered softly. “Have you ever really trusted a man? Trusted him to take care of you?
Trusted him to be strong for you? To be there for you?“
“Have you ever really trusted a woman that much?“ she countered.
“No,“ he admitted somberly.
But I’ve never met a woman quite like you, before, either,
he thought.
“I think you understand me, Colby. We have some things in common, don’t we?“
“Yes.“
They were quiet together for a long while before they both fell asleep there on the lumpy old sofa.
Diana awoke feeling pleasantly crushed. It took her a few minutes to realize she was on the sofa, and that Colby was the crushing force that was being applied along the length of her.
“Beats waking up in a cave,“ Colby muttered without opening his eyes. At that moment, Specter stepped close to the sofa and put his damp nose against the first available chunk of warm human skin he found. He whined demandingly. Colby swore. “Tell that dog that if he wants to survive until nightfall, he’d better get his wet nose away from my back.“
“I think he wants to go outside.“
Colby opened one eye. “Then why don’t you let him out?“
“Because you’re on the outside of the sofa. It would be much easier for you to get up and let him out.“
“There will be snow in August before I do that dog any favors. I’ve got more interesting things to do this morning.“ He slid a warm palm over the curve of Diana’s hip.
“Letting him out first thing in the morning isn’t exactly a favor. It’s more of a necessity.“
Specter emphasized the point with another sharp whine. He moved his cold nose up the length of Colby’s spine, pushing the rumpled khaki shirt out of the way as he went.
“All right, all right. I surrender. I can take anything but wet-dog-nose torture.“ Colby rolled to his feet and stretched hugely. “Come on, you great slobbering beast. Outside. I may use you in a book one of these days, you know that?“
Specter leaped forward enthusiastically. Diana listened to the front door open and close and thought about how nice it was to have the man she loved waking up with her in the mornings. A woman could get addicted to this special kind of luxury. It would be dangerous to indulge herself too much.
She opened her eyes to find Colby standing beside the sofa, shedding the jeans in which he had slept. Dawn light danced on his powerful, naked shoulders. There was a possessive intentness in his gaze that sent small shock waves through her nerve endings.